As soon as Jiang Yao spoke, Wei Ximing heaved a sigh of relief.

He didn’t want to have drinks poured on him either. It would ruin his image. However, if he were to speak against it, others would look down on him and call him a coward. It was different with Jiang Yao though. 

So, he silently stood aside and let Jiang Yao play the fool.

Jiang Yao also felt a little embarrassed after she spoke out. She was in a bit of a hurry just now, so she ended up being a little shameless. Immediately, she felt that it wasn’t quite appropriate and felt a little embarrassed. She couldn’t help but turn her head towards Wei Ximing, hoping that he would help her.

As a result…

Wei Ximing just stood there silently and didn’t say anything? 

Jiang Yao ended up becoming the biggest joke of the entire dance???

At that moment, Jiang Yao was indescribably angry and disappointed. Wei Ximing was usually so gentle, elegant, and considerate. She was now in an awkward position, so why wasn’t he helping her?

Jiang Yao was both aggrieved and unreconciled. Her eyes slowly turned red, and tears started streaming down her face. She hadn’t wanted to participate in the raffle to begin with! She was forced to participate, but she ended up winning the second place prize! She was so upset!

Shu Ning saw the female lead’s eyes turn red. Wei Ximing was clearly using her to take the fall for the both of them. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. Shu Ning said, “Jiang Yao’s a girl. It’s understandable that she doesn’t want to participate. Aren’t Jiang Yao and Wei Ximing a couple? How about this? Let’s have Wei Ximing take on Jiang Yao’s punishment for her. What do you think?”

He smiled and said, “Wei Ximing loves Jiang Yao a lot. I’m sure he’ll be willing to take on her punishment for her, right?”

The one he was targeting was Wei Ximing, not Jiang Yao. The female lead hadn’t messed with them, so he was naturally willing to let her go.

Wei Ximing suddenly shot him a glare. The look in his eyes was vicious. He looked like a poisonous, man-eating snake.

Shu Ning was taken aback by the sinister look in his eyes. Just as he was about to say something, the person next to him stepped forward and said indifferently, “Since Wei Ximing doesn’t want to, let’s just forget about it. Let’s just draw the second place winners again.” 

This one sentence was more effective than anything else he could’ve said.

Once Wei Mingzheng said this, everyone else was instantly unhappy.

How come the rules didn’t count when it came to Jiang Yao and Wei Ximing? Would the rules count if it was someone else?

Everyone had agreed to keep their word before the raffle started. Now, these two were trying to back out. 

Did Wei Ximing and Jiang Yao get special privileges?

That’s so boring!

When Jiang Yao heard that there was a solution, she eagerly stared at Wei Ximing.

They could either not get punished at all or Wei Ximing could take her punishment for her. Anyhow, it would all work out in the end. 

Wei Ximing saw that everyone was talking and chattering. He knew that he could no longer escape. He gritted his teeth and met Jiang Yao’s expectant gaze. With great difficulty, he said, “Alright. I’ll take both of our punishments at once.”

“Nice!”

“What a good guy! He’s taking it on for her!”

“This is what a man should be like!” 

There were people in the crowd cheering.

Jiang Yao breathed a sigh of relief. She gave Wei Ximing a grateful look.

Wei Ximing walked over to Jiang Yao’s side. He held her hand and said affectionately, “I would do anything for you.”

Since he was going to get punished, he might as well get it over with. Plus, he’d be able to earn some goodwill from Jiang Yao. It wouldn’t be a complete waste. 

“Oh, wow. Ximing and Jiang Yao really love each other.”

“Ximing’s really done too much for Jiang Yao.”

Jiang Yao was a little moved. She suppressed all the unhappiness from earlier and said, “Thank you.”

After showing off their love, she quickly walked back to her seat and sat down. She angrily asked her friends, “Who organized the raffle? I definitely won’t let this go!” 

Her friends looked at each other and hesitated.

Jiang Yao frowned. “What’s wrong?”

One of her friends thought for a second and said, “Yao Yao, the raffle was organized by Wei Ximing, Lian Feng, and a few other guys.”

Jiang Yao was stunned for a moment. She stared at Wei Ximing on the dance floor, the gratitude in her heart disappearing without a trace. 

“My god! Wei Ximing is so good to you!”

“Jiang Yao, Wei Ximing’s really sacrificed too much for you!”

A couple of girls walked up to her and said enviously.

Jiang Yao’s fingers clenched tightly. She suddenly felt very uncomfortable. Wei Ximing was the one who had caused all of this, yet she somehow ended up getting involved. Wei Ximing hadn’t spoken up for her at first. It was only after he had gotten threatened by others that he finally agreed to take on the punishment. He even made it look as if he was sacrificing himself for her. 

Even other people were saying that he had sacrificed too much for her sake!

However, she wouldn’t have had to suffer from any punishment if it weren’t for him!

Jiang Yao felt very aggrieved, but there was nothing she could say.

She already had a vague feeling that something was wrong. However, when she thought of how good Wei Ximing had been to her before, she pushed down all the discomfort in her heart. She plastered a stiff smile on her face and received everyone’s envious gazes. 

Since Wei Ximing chose to be punished in place of Jiang Yao, he would have to take on two times the amount of drinks poured on him.

The host also felt a little awkward. His voice wasn’t as excited as before. “In that case, let’s begin with the punishment.”

There was a lot of fruit wine at the venue. Everyone gave each other a look. Then, they picked up their glasses and walked towards the dance floor.

Wei Ximing stood in the middle of the dance floor. He tried his best to maintain a calm demeanor and spread his hands. “I can admit defeat when I’ve lost. Come on!” 

Shu Ning couldn’t stand his hypocritical appearance, so he didn’t hold back and filled his glass to the brim. The glass in his hand was a large wine glass. It was big enough to hold at least half a bottle of mineral water.

Wei Mingzheng also poured himself a full glass of fruit wine. Then, he walked over to Wei Ximing in front of everyone’s shocked faces.

They were all focused on the huge glass of wine in his hand.

No way. He’s pouring himself that big of a glass? 

It was rumored that the two of them were at odds with each other. It looked like the rumors were true.

The people around them only filled their glasses a little bit. They were a bit too scared to splash it on Wei Ximing. Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning were the only ones to fill their glasses to the brim…

However, when they thought of the grudge between the two, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

The crowd was too scared to splash their drinks on Wei Ximing, but this didn’t prevent them from watching the fun! 

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The audience held their breath. They were waiting for Wei Mingzheng to pour his drink over Wei Ximing’s head. It would definitely go down in history as one of the most exciting moments at Sai Yao International High School.

A few clever individuals had already pulled out their cell phones. They were ready to record the video. 

However, to everyone’s surprise, Wei Mingzheng raised his glass and said to Wei Ximing, “I’ll give you two choices. You can either drink this glass of wine or I can pour it over your head.”

Shu Ning was surprised. How could the villain just let Wei Ximing go like this?

The crowd booed in disappointment. They were waiting for something exciting to happen! This was it? It wasn’t exciting at all.

They just wanted to see the real young master fight with the fake young master. They didn’t care to see the two of them make up with each other. 

Wei Ximing was stunned for a moment. Then, he raised his eyebrows and laughed. “Of course I choose to drink.”

He instantly understood what Wei Mingzheng was playing at. If Wei Mingzheng actually poured the drink on him, there would definitely be rumors about Wei Mingzheng abusing his authority and bullying Wei Ximing.

Wei Ximing did in fact have plans to spread rumors like that.

However, Wei Mingzheng probably understood that doing so would only invite more trouble in the future. Therefore, he chose not to pour his drink on Wei Ximing. 

Looks like he’s not that dumb after all.

Wei Ximing took the wine glass in his hand and drank it all in one go.

The flavor of the fruit wine wasn’t too heavy. It was like drinking juice.

Shu Ning was silent for a moment. Then, he handed the glass to Wei Ximing. “Do you want to drink or pour?” 

Of course Wei Ximing chose to drink.

After he drank it all, Shu Ning angrily walked back to his spot. He tried to comfort himself. If he had actually poured his drink and someone caught a video of it, things might become difficult for the villain in the future.

The little villain approached Shu Ning. He asked quietly, “Are you unhappy?”

Shu Ning wanted to say no. However, after hesitating for a bit, he glumly nodded. “We’re really letting him off too easily like this!” 

Wei Mingzheng suddenly let out a soft laugh. His voice was low, seductive, and pleasant on the ears.

Shu Ning asked, “What are you laughing about?”

How can you still laugh at a time like this?

“I want to show you something.” 

Wei Mingzheng picked up wine sitting next to him and handed it to Shu Ning.

Shu Ning suspiciously accepted the bottle. “?”

Wei Mingzheng leaned close to his ear and whispered, “This bottle has actual alcohol in it, the really strong kind.”

Shu Ning’s eyes suddenly widened. He stared at the villain in surprise. Then, he giggled and whispered back, “Asshole. When did you switch the drinks?” 

“I switched them yesterday. I only switched out a few of them, and I left a mark on them that only I can recognize.” Wei Mingzheng said in a low voice, rubbing his head, “As soon as we got in, I put all the alcohol on the table. Don’t get angry.”

Shu Ning was very happy at the moment. He wasn’t angry at all. He leaned over and said, “There’s going to be an exciting show to watch!”

No wonder the villain didn’t let him drink the fruit wine earlier. It turned out to be real alcohol.

The two girls sitting near them watched as they whispered to each other and excitedly took photos with their cell phones. 

The students who had been hesitating to pour their drinks let out a sigh of relief. Following Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning’s example, they raised their glasses and allowed Wei Ximing to choose.

After drinking a few glasses, it slowly started getting harder and harder for Wei Ximing to keep drinking. Although the alcohol content of fruit wine was pretty low, it was still a lot to drink at once. His stomach couldn’t hold much more.

Towards the end, the others noticed that he was feeling uncomfortable, so they slowly started decreasing the amount of fruit wine in their glasses.

Wei Ximing managed to complete the punishment in this way. 

His friends saw that there was another way to get through the punishment and breathed a sigh of relief. They instructed the students to leave no more than a single sip of wine in their glasses.

Even if Wei Ximing had to drink two hundred glasses, it was still doable.

Afterwards, Wei Ximing and his friends began to call on everyone to have a drink together. When the host saw this, he hurriedly put on some pop music. Everyone at the dance had a glass in their hand and swayed together. Gradually, the awkward atmosphere from earlier melted away, leaving a very harmonious scene in its place.

Wei Ximing felt like he was a genius. He was able to find a way out of a desperate situation, and he was able to resolve that awkward atmosphere from earlier. He was really too fucking smart! 

His friends were also praising him. When they tried putting themselves in Wei Ximing’s shoes, they felt that they probably wouldn’t have been able to deal with it as well as Wei Ximing.

Jiang Yao was incredibly moved when she saw how Wei Ximing managed to turn things around. What’s not to like about a capable man?

They had all forgotten that it was Wei Mingzheng who had spared Wei Ximing. That was the only reason Wei Ximing even had the chance to turn things around. However, at this moment, they all felt that it was because Wei Ximing was just that smart.

Wei Ximing’s emotions started climbing higher and higher. Gradually, Wei Ximing became more and more dazed. He tried his best to maintain his composure, but he slowly started losing control. 

A few more moments passed. Just as things were getting lively again, Wei Ximing suddenly started shouting. He dropped the glass in his hand and started shoving the people around him, yelling, “Fuck off! Everyone get out of my way!”

Everyone was completely stunned.

The two people who got pushed didn’t see it coming at all. They fell straight to the ground. Both of them cut a sorry figure.

The music came to an abrupt stop. No one knew what was going on. 

Wei Ximing gloomily looked around, scanning through the crowd. Then, he charged towards Wei Mingzheng, who was talking to Shu Ning. Wei Ximing pointed to his nose and cursed, “You got lucky today! The whole reason I organized the raffle was to fuck you over, but you still manged to get away!”

“However, I’m a fucking genius! Even though I ended up winning the second place prize, I’m more than capable of turning things around! Don’t look down on me, Wei Mingzheng! Just you wait! I won’t just let things go like this!”

After throwing down this statement, he walked over to Lian Feng and grabbed his collar. He spat, “You can’t do a single thing right, huh!? I asked you to fuck the two of them over, not me! How’d you get my name in there, huh!? Are you trying to mess with me?”

Lian Feng was taken aback. “President, you’re drunk!” 

“I’m not drunk!” Wei Ximing tugged on his collar again. “Tell me! Did you mess with the system or not? You put your name down for the first place prize, didn’t you?”

“If you wanted the prize that badly, you should’ve just said so! It’s not like I would’ve said no! Why did you put my name down for the second place prize? Are you trying to take revenge on me? Huh!? I told you to put Wei Mingzheng down for second place! How the fuck did you mess that up? I’m telling you! This isn’t over!”

Lian Feng’s face turned ashen. “President, it’s not like that! I don’t know why it’s like this either!”

Wei Ximing wouldn’t let up. He had already decided that Lian Feng did this on purpose for the sake of the first place prize. 

The two of them scuffled for a bit on the dance floor.

The people around them were stunned.

This was a shocking secret!

It turned out that the raffle winners were fixed! The so-called second place prize was a trap for Wei Mingzheng! 

Damn! That’s so vicious, so disgusting!

Wei Ximing must’ve become drunk because he drank too much fruit wine.

The fruit wine also had a bit of alcohol content in it. He drank so much of it, so it wasn’t entirely unreasonable for him to get drunk. Plus, a drunk mind speaks a sober heart!

Shu Ning was completely dumbfounded. He turned around and gave the little villain a thumbs up. 

As expected of the villain. This move sure was brutal.

By exposing himself, Wei Ximing had pretty much sentenced himself to death.

Wei Ximing’s friends saw that the situation wasn’t good. They quickly stepped forward to stop the fight, but Wei Ximing was drunk off his ass. He even started scolding his friends as well.

Seeing how the situation was getting bigger and bigger, Wei Ximing’s friends made the executive decision to drag Wei Ximing out. 

“The president’s really drunk, so we’ll be leaving first!”

“Everything he said just now was false! You can’t trust the words of a drunkard!”

Then, they pathetically left the banquet hall.

Jiang Yao’s face turned green. She was already in a bad mood after finding out that Wei Ximing was the one who organized the raffle. However, who would’ve thought that Wei Ximing had actually set it up as a trap for Wei Mingzheng. He even ended up dragging her into his mess and exposing his dirty laundry to the entire student body. 

He had completely embarrassed her!

Jiang Yao couldn’t stay any longer. She claimed that she needed to check up on Wei Ximing and left.

The male and female leads had left. The remaining attendees looked at each other. When he saw that the mood was growing cold, the experienced host quickly took control of the scene and somehow managed to liven up the atmosphere a bit.

The dance continued as usual, but everyone seemed a bit absent-minded. There were several people hiding out in some corner of the banquet hall. They were telling other students about the breaking news they had just heard. 

Wei Ximing and Jiang Yao had left, so Wei Mingzheng and Shu Ning were finally able to relax. They started to enjoy the atmosphere of the dance.

Finally, it was time to exchange roses.

Shu Ning asked Wei Mingzheng, “Who are you going to give your rose to?”

Wei Mingzheng said, “There hasn’t been anybody who’s caught my eye.” 

Shu Ning was secretly a little happy, but he didn’t show it on his face. Instead, he poked some fun at him. “Tsk, you’re so picky.”

“What about you?” the villain asked him.

Shu Ning said, “I don’t have anyone I want to give it to either.”

Wei Mingzheng plucked the rose off his chest and handed it to Shu Ning. “Then, I’ll give mine to you. As a friend.” 

“Ahhh!”

“He actually gave him his rose!”

There was a scream coming from nearby. When the two of them turned their heads, they saw several girls hugging each other with excitement. They discovered very early on that these girls always seemed to be sitting next to them. Instead of dancing with the boys, the girls just spent the entire time staring at them. At first, Shu Ning thought that maybe they had a crush on him or the villain, but not once did they try to strike up a conversation.

It was just a little weird. 

As long as they didn’t get in the way of others, it wasn’t really a problem.

It’s just that their gaze made him a little uncomfortable.

“What?” Shu Ning said, “There’s no rule that says we can’t give our roses to a guy, right?”

The girls nodded furiously. “Yes, yes, yes! You’re absolutely right!” 

Shu Ning: “…”

How come something felt off?

Wei Mingzheng also frowned. He patiently explained himself to the girls, “I don’t have anyone I like, but I admire Shu Ning a lot. Friendship is also a kind of relationship.”

“Yes, yes, yes! You are so right! Friends are the best!” The girls agreed. 

Shu Ning and Wei Mingzheng: “…”

Even the villain, who was usually calm and collected, felt a little uncomfortable.

Wei Mingzheng’s every move attracted attention. All the people nearby looked over towards their direction.

Wei Mingzheng frowned and changed the subject. “Actually, there isn’t any rule that says blue roses have to be given to girls and red roses have to be given to boys, right? The king doesn’t have to be a guy, and the queen doesn’t have to be a girl, right?” 

After thinking about it for a bit, everyone’s eyes lit up.

He’s right!

Someone suddenly proposed an idea. “Hey, why don’t we choose a girl as king and a guy as queen? What do you guys think?”

“That’s a great idea!” 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah! Let’s start!”

Everyone’s attention finally shifted. Shu Ning and Wei Mingzheng breathed a sigh of relief.

The host said, “Everyone, make sure to give somebody your rose before time runs out!”

With that reminder, everyone excitedly rushed about on the dance floor. The attendees were no longer as serious or solemn as the previous years. 

This year’s dance had already become a complete mess.

Sure, there ended up being a lot of drama, but it sure was exciting!

In the minds of the attendees, things were already super exciting. Might as well make things even more exciting!

They were going to choose a girl to be king and a guy to be queen. This was going to be a dance for the history books! 

If they were going to play, they might as well play big!

The boys started pinning their roses on each other. At the same time, they all tried to avoid getting roses pinned on themselves. The girls, on the other hand, unanimously crowded around a tall, handsome upperclassman. They all pinned their roses to her suit.

Yes, that’s right. The handsome upperclassman wore a suit to the dance.

The upperclassman was almost drowning in a crowd of girls. 

The girls sitting near Shu Ning and Wei Mingzheng looked at each other. Then, they mischievously scattered throughout the venue, conspiratorially whispering with some of the boys.

Shu Ning and Wei Mingzheng didn’t notice anything unusual. They sat in the same spot as before and chatted with each other.

“Wei Mingzheng, Shu Ning. How are you guys?” A group of boys scooted over to them.

Wei Mingzheng didn’t pay him much attention. He gave the boys an indifferent nod. 

Shu Ning’s personality was a lot more outgoing. Seeing that they were expressing goodwill, he quickly waved and said, “Hi, everyone.”

One was like an iceberg, and the other was like the sun. The choice was obvious. They rushed over to Shu Ning’s side and started asking random questions.

Wei Mingzheng was very unhappy. However, he suddenly noticed a boy secretly pinning a rose onto Shu Ning’s back while they were talking. The corners of his mouth twitched with a smile. Then, he turned his head and pretended not to see it.

The boys noticed his tacit approval and became even bolder. 

Shu Ning had never been so sought after since coming to Sai Yao, so he was incredibly surprised. He enthusiastically answered everyone’s questions.

He wasn’t that sensitive to physical contact to begin with. Plus, there were a lot of boys surrounding him. It was normal for people to bump into him every now and then, so he didn’t really notice the roses pinned along his back.

However, Shu Ning wasn’t an idiot. He slowly realized that something was wrong. He turned to look at his back, but Wei Mingzheng suddenly grabbed his hand. “Who are you going to give your rose to?”

Shu Ning’s line of thought was interrupted. He took the rose from his chest and pinned it to the villain’s chest. “I’m obviously going to give it to you.” 

“Ahhh! They’re actually exchanging roses!”

“I’m done for! They’re too sweet! It’s too much!”

“This is too much for me.”

Several girls started whispering to each other. 

At this moment, the venue was a little noisy, so Shu Ning couldn’t hear what they were saying very clearly. He still felt like there was something on his back. He wanted to take a look, but the villain pulled him to his feet. “Come on. Let’s walk around. ”

Shu Ning had no choice but to stand up and walk around with him.

The little villain suddenly seemed to go through a personality change. He was greeting everyone they met, surprising Shu Ning. After all, the villain had always been cold and distant towards others.

Shu Ning felt that Baby was making a lot of progress! He was finally taking the initiative to socialize with others, so he happily followed along. Naturally, he didn’t have time to check his back. 

“Time’s up!”

The host stood on the stage and asked, “Now, could everyone please count the roses on your body? Who has the most roses?”

The girls announced, “Of course it’s Zhu Ling!”

“Zhu Ling’s the most handsome!” 

The handsome upperclassman was covered in roses from head to toe. She looked like she was turning into a rose bush. She looked both ridiculous and funny.

When Shu Ning saw her, he couldn’t help but laugh.

When the other boys saw Zhu Ling, they also couldn’t help but laugh.

The venue was full of happiness. 

Shu Ning scooted closer to the villain. “Do you think Zhu Ling should be happy or not? A girl was actually chosen as King of the Ball,” Shu Ning laughed.

The little villain glanced at him silently. After a while, he said, “It could be worse.”

The boys surrounding them also stared at Shu Ning and said, “It’s better to be a female king than a male queen.”

Shu Ning felt that this made sense. He rubbed his chin and said, “Zhu Ling’s really handsome. A lot of celebrities go for that kind of androgynous look. King of the Ball kind of suits Zhu Ling! As for Queen of the Ball, it feels kind of… hmm. We need to find someone pretty.” 

The little villain said, “He is pretty.”

The other boys nodded along, their expressions serious. “Yeah.”

Shu Ning looked around and saw a rather feminine-looking boy. He lightly tapped the little villain’s arm. “Hey, do you think it’s him?”

The little villain replied, deadpan, “I don’t think so.” 

“Why?”

“He doesn’t have a lot of roses on him.”

Shu Ning suddenly realized that he was right and started looking around. That’s right, he should be looking for the boy with the most roses, not the prettiest boy.

However, he wasn’t able to find a boy covered in roses like Zhu Ling was. 

One of the boys nearby asked mischievously, “Shu Ning, who do you think is the Queen of the Ball?”

Shu Ning said, “I don’t know. I don’t see anyone with a lot of roses on them.”

“Yeah, none of them have a lot of roses.” The boys playfully nodded.

Shu Ning was aware that something wasn’t quite right, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint it. 

After counting all the roses on Zhu Ling’s body, the host said, “A new King of the Ball is born! It’s our very own Zhu Ling! I now invite Zhu Ling to the stage!”

Zhu Ling quickly accepted reality. She gracefully and elegantly walked onto the stage. Then, she gave a carefree wave to the crowd.

Her confident and chic appearance had the girls screaming and cheering for her.

The host then looked towards the boys. “Do we have a Queen of the Ball yet?” 

Just as Shu Ning was about to say no, the boys next to him shouted out, “We have one!”

Shu Ning was very surprised. He looked around and found that everyone else seemed very sure and certain. What was going on? These people had been next to him the entire time. When did they pick out a Queen of the Ball? Why didn’t he know about it?

The host asked, “Who is it?”

The boys announced in unison, “Shu—Ning—!” 

Shu Ning: “…???”

Shu Ning: “…!”

Fuck!